Starting a reef from dryrock.

jostafew · #1 10-25-2012, 05:55 AM

I started my reef with about 95% dry rock (BRS Reef Save Rock to be exact) and sand, then seeded with about 3lbs of choice live rock from the LFS. After adding the little bit of LR I cycled by dropping some cooked shrimp in there to decompose and feed the bacteria populations. Fish food will work too, just anything to decompose and feed the bacteria. Once I was confident the cycle was complete I added a fish and a cleaner shrimp and slowly built of the bioload over the many months to come.

Enigma · #2 10-25-2012, 11:47 AM

What pests are you specifically worried about transferring over in the filter media?

I only use dry rock now. I use a variety of bacterial products: Microbacter7 and Stability are the two I have on hand right now.